09/26/2011

Usually we activists have to prod and dig a little bit to get opposition voices to admit the personally-targeted goals that underly the "protect marriage", "traditional values" movement. But sometimes we get folks like Michael Youssef, columnist for the American Family Association's One News Now, who come right out and admit how they truly see us and what they want us do:

I am not surprised at their continual demand for increasing affirmation of their lifestyle, because God created us in His own image and He placed a mechanism within us that alerts us when we are defying God's natural laws. Even homosexual lobbyists know deep down that homosexuality is contrary to God's created order.

Therefore, the fire of their burning consciences will not stop at being left alone, or being accepted, or being promoted as the norm, or even elevating their lifestyle as a virtue. Why?

Because that fire will only be quenched when they acknowledge that they were born sinners, just like me, and come to the only Savior who can set them free, giving them victory over the bondage of sin.

Tragically, as the Apostle Paul wrote, "They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed" (Ephesians 4:18-19).

It's truly amazing how much these avowed heterosexual Christians presume to know about us. About our wants, our needs, and even our consciences -- they act as if they are the God and we the humble puppets who lie in wait for their next instruction.

And of course these instructions are always guided by the notion that the world's millions of LGBT people were put here in error, the view that this same population sect lives in search of a proper evangelical church (read: Christian church only), and the claim that LGBT people are deprived peace for reasons other than the constant onslaughts perpetuated by figures like American Family Association columnists. In their bizarrely concentrated state as "values" protectors, they never take even an ounce of responsibility for the misappropriations and unfortunate perpetuations that they themselves are fostering in the name of God. Instead, they, the generalized proponents of this unfortunate stigmatization, demand that we all submit to whatever unfortunate sketch they might care to make in the name of social conservatism.

The only way we are going to get beyond the contrived "culture wars" and nonstop examples of bullying that keep plaguing our headlines is to stand up and call out people like Michael Youssef. This is not a mere conservative voice who is carrying water for the political right, and we should not let voices like Youssef's hide behind such a label. This man is quite literally telling LGBT kids that they are innately broken. So is the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins, as are many other figureheads who the Republican politicians routinely court. When we -- and our friends in the mainstream media, in particular -- start believing them when they say they want to "change," criminalize, or "export" us rather than simply accepting such language as par for our nation's political course, we can start dealing with the actual stakes at hand. These actual stakes are far greater than those pertaining to a certain election or piece of legislation. The overarching goal, as stated, if for an LGBT-less world. Our overarching fight must full lay bear the hardness of the darkened words that are ignorantly delivered in the insensitive name of seizing impure financial or political capital ["They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed" (Ephesians 4:18-19)]